Move over, Minions. The latest cheekiest, lovable character has arrived- the Niffler!
I know I’m not the only one who was turned to mush over the cute little critter in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. So, of course, when I saw the bread in Jacob’s bakery scene, I knew I had to give this a shot.
I sometimes give little sneak peeks of recipes in the making, as well as the occasional flop, on both Facebook and YouTube. But I rarely show them here, preferring to give you the final recipe and how it turned out.
I decided though, to give one this time, showing what happens when you trial with yeast and niffler bread…
Before he went in the oven…
And after he came out. Oh, dear! Looks like this niffler shoveled one too many necklaces into his magical pouch!
After a few adjustments to the recipe, we now have nifflers looking a bit more on point.
- 1 packages dry yeast
- 1¼ cup warm water
- 120ml honey
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 eggs + 1 egg for glaze
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 5-6 cups plain flour
- In your mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and sprinkle on the yeast.
- Mix in the honey, oil, eggs and salt.
- With the mixer going, add the flour, bit by bit.
- When the dough thickens, switch to the dough hook.
- Turn out onto a floured board and finish the kneading by hand for 1-2 minutes, so the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Place back in bowl and cover with a clean damp cotton tea towel.
- Leave until the dough has doubled in size, typically, 1 to 1½ hours.
- Once risen, punch down the dough. Separate the dough into 4-6 equal sized balls.
- Shape into an oval, and tear off a portion to use for the head.
- Shape the body, into an egg shape, and cut 3 lines. Two for the arms, one to create legs (see image).
- Shape into arms and legs, curling the legs up, and arms inwards.
- Make four cuts in each hand and legs to make the five claws.
- Use a wooden skewer to better shape the hands and feet to have a sharper claw look. Alternatively, the feet can be made separately.
- Sit the body shape up, curving it into place, and use bottles to keep him propped up.
- To shape the head then stretch out some of the dough to form the bill, curving the end upwards.
- Press the head onto the body, pressing the dough together.
- Using a wooden skewer, poke in two eyes.
- Place onto a baking paper lined baking tray.
- Butter the outside of some small baking containers (small ramekins, etc) and use them to prop up the niffler.
- Beat the last egg in a small bowl, and brush all over the niffler.
- Preheat oven to 190 degrees C, place in and bake for ~30 minutes, until golden brown. If you feel he's browning too much, cover with aluminium foil.
Oh Bry!
He’s adorable. I prefer him over the annoying Minions any day.
Geeezzz, the bread looks cute and seems all are delicious. Can’t wait to taste it!
aww he’s fantastic! I must try this, my daughter would love it.
OMG. That’s so cute. I want this for my kids. Thank you for the idea!
Glad you like it 🙂
Hi. I wanted to make this with a class of children. Please could you tell me how many niffler’s this will make if they are about the size of a roll? Thanks so much .
Hi Caroline, it might be a challenging project for kids since even adults have told me their nifflers turned out funny looking! Turns out you need to have some sculpting skills 😀 If you do make them, maybe adjust the sizing so they make large nifflers– easier to manage. From memory, this recipe made me about 4-5 nifflers.